1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to wireless network communication. More particularly, this invention relates to automatically configuring a communication interface of a device for connection with a wireless communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different wireless networks offer different characteristics. Local wireless communication links can be used to reach locally connected devices and/or systems. Wireless communication links can also be used to reach local infrastructures. A device with more than one wireless link can exploit this diversity by selecting the current best link for the specific network transaction it needs to perform.
However, as is known, the wireless communication networks function differently from the wired communication network when it comes to connecting a new device and/or system to the wireless network. For example, in a wireless network system such as the system 10 shown in FIG. 1, when a new wireless system (e.g., the wireless system 11) is added to the existing wireless network (e.g., the network 12), the new wireless system 11 must also contain the same wireless communication parameters as that of the network 12. Here, network 12 includes a number of wireless systems that can communicate with each other wirelessly.
In this situation, one prior art way for the new device 11 to establish wireless communication with the wireless network 12 is to pre-configure the communication interface of the device 11 with the communication parameters of the network 12. This means that the new device 11 must be configured before establishing communication with the network 12. The communication parameters typically include the network ID parameter, the frequency of communication parameter, the time synchronization parameter, the ID address of the device parameter, the encryption key parameter, and the proxy of the device parameter. The communication parameters may include other parameters.
One disadvantage of the above mentioned prior art approach is that the network 12 is not user transparent. This means that the user of a device must know the communication parameters of the network in order to connect his/her device to the network. If the parameters are not available, the user cannot connect his/her device to the network. A person new to an existing wireless network typically does not know the communication parameters of the network, and typically cannot connect his/her devices to the network.
Another disadvantage is the manual configuration of the communication interface of the new device with the communication parameters of the network. This is especially so when a device is changed from one wireless network to another. The communication parameters of the new network must be entered into the device and manually.
Another prior art approach is to make the discovery using the very same communication interface to be configured. The problem of this approach is that it may discover too many networks. In addition, the discovery process may be unbearably slow. The discovery process may also be not secure as well.